China tech group launches Israel innovation fund
Chinese tech company Kuang-Chi has launched an Israel-based global innovation fund and is targeting a corpus of $300 million within the next three years.
The company is calling the vehicle the first Chinese fund of its kind, combining early to mid-stage Israeli and global companies with services provided by Kuang-Chi. According to a statement, the fund will have an initial mandate of $50 million and offer portfolio companies access to the entirety of Kuang-Chi's corporate resources, including marketing, technology and product development expertise.
The GCI Fund and Incubator will be managed by Kuang-Chi's partner in Israel, Indigo Global, a capital management services firm focused on emerging markets across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
"Israel has unparalleled capabilities to offer the world," said Ruopeng Liu, chairman of Kuang-Chi. "We intend to invest in the best local companies in the fields of biometrics, communications, robotics, and AR [augmented reality], and to take them to the next level commercially and technologically."
Founded in 2010, Kuang-Chi focuses on R&D in electronic information and mathematical statistics. The group claims to be worth in excess of $10 billion, with more than 3,000 patents worldwide. This portfolio includes 85% of rights applications submitted in the field of metamaterials during the past 10 years.
Kuang-Chi invested $20 million earlier this month in Israel-based EyeSight Technologies in a bid to bring the company's computer vision competence to growing sectors such as robotics, internet-of-things and automotive enhancement. This deal along with the GCI launch represent part of a growing Chinese presence in the Israeli tech market, where overseas investment has historically been dominated by the US and Europe.
Recent momentum has also been demonstrated in the raising of a $200 million fund earlier this year by Hong Kong-based asset manager China Everbright and Israel's Catalyst Private Equity. Meanwhile, last year China's CreditEase achieved a first close of $30 million on its debut Israel-focused technology start-up fund.
More on Greater China
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.